Murder with most fouls

Saudi Arabia further admitted on Thursday that the murder of Washington Post contributor and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was pre-meditated. In one foul after another, the Saudi rulers first said Khashoggi had walked out of their embassy in Istanbul on October 2, when he had gone in to get clearance papers for marriage to his US finacee. Then they walked it back saying Khashoggi died accidentally within the embassy when an argument between him and his interrogators turned into a fistfight.
These interrogators were some investigators gone rogue, they claimed, asserting that the royalty was unaware of their motives or actions in interrogating Khashoggi.
By Sunday, October 21, with mounting international pressure on crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the de facto ruler, and his father, King Salman bin Abdulazziz al-Saud, the kingdom finally admitted that his murder was indeed planned well in advance.
At the same time, US President Donald Trump was committing a lot of fouls in an attempt to save his middle-east strategy, which hinges on the US-Saudi relationship, not to mention a USD 110 billion arms deal between the two countries which Trump says cannot be touched, no matter the degree of Saudi's culpability in the appalling murder. First, he suggested it may have been done by some rogue elements from outside, then said they could be from within the regime, but rogue elements nevertheless.
He later changed his tune saying MBS and his father were investigating the murder and US was doing its own probe and that he didnt know if Khashoggi was indeed murdered and MBS was involved. He walked that back early this week saying he believed Khashoggi was dead and that it was 'sad'. Finally, he suggested this week that, since MBS was de factor the Saudi ruler, he has to be involved.
In the middle of all the different narratives put out on a global scale, on the one side by a panicked Saudi regime and, on the other, by Trump trying to save his "friends", Turkey has admirably been firm on its stance from day one that Khashoggi was murdered in cold blood by 15-odd operatives who flew in from Riyadh to Istanbul, with a bone saw to boot, who dismembered his body and disposed of it in different places within Istanbul. Turkish President Recip Tayyib Erdogan went so far as to demand that these 15 should be tried in Istanbul as well. He truly deserves credit for exposing a murder most foul, regardless of whether he had strong political motivations in doing so. 

Bizarre to Bizarrer

I was reading a news story on NDTV.com about Rs. 140 crore worth jewellery being robbed from a Kanpur shop that had closed down five years ago! Yes, it seems the partners running the shop had a big dispute and decided to close the shop in 2013. But, as bitterly feuding friends-turned-foes, each of them probably insisted that no one touched the stock, until their case was decided. And precious goods of such a high value were left in that shop for five years.
A Kanpur court recently ordered the shop be opened in police presence. But, according to the news report, the jewellery was stolen just a few days before the shop was opened. Now, how the reporter reached this conclusion is strange to say the least, considering that the police are yet to go through the CCTV cameras around the shop. They have promised they will. Soon.
Meanwhile, as comments on online news stories go, I was expecting most of the 4 comments on this one to be sarcastic, amusing or written in wonderment of the land that is India (in the 'It happens only in India' mien). However, one of the comments took a potshot at a file photo carried alongside the story by NDTV, showing some Kanpur policemen standing on some street. No relevance to the story whatsoever, except that they are cops. The commentator noted that the photograph has B612 stamped on it in the right hand corner and wondered why the cops had used B612 app to take the photo.
Here's where it went from bizarre to bizarrer for me, as I had never heard of this app. Turns out that it is a highly popular mobile app (more than 5 million downloads) among youngsters for taking selfies as it provides several filters and special effects when taking them. As to why the cops would use such an app to take their own pictures while on duty will forever remain a mystery to me.
But, then again, you learn something new every day. 

The Pullout President

Trump has done it again. He has announced that US would be pulling out of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty it had signed with Russia about 30 years ago. The treaty, signed in 1987 by Reagan and Gorbachev has been instrumental in de-nuclearisation and lack of armed conflict between Russia and Europe. The treaty bans ground-launch nuclear missiles with 500 to 5500 km range and has resulted in the elimination of almost 2700 such missiles.
Trump first pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord to the chagrin of much of the world, which has been looking at US to lead the way in protecting the environment. Then he pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, under which Iran has agreed to halt its nuclear program and allow UN inspections. He then pulled out of NAFTA, the trade agreement US had with its North Atlantic neighbours -- Canada and Mexico. And now this. Trump is turning out to be the Serial Puller.

But why the INF? John Bolton, his current National Security Advisor, and other hawks in his administration have been drumming up the narrative that the Russia is already developing such nuclear weapons despite being a signatory to INF, waving some videos Putin put out last year showing missiles which defy physics and logic to go over or under any territory to hit enemy targets at great distances. They have also been pointing to the fact that China is also into similar projects, while the US is the only one keeping its side of the INF promise.

So Trump is saying enough is enough. While that reinforces his tough and muscular image with his base right before probably the most crucial mid-terms in US history, it also makes the industrial-military complex drool with the opening up of the biggest area in military expenditure for the foreseeable future.

But by triggering off and open race to more nuclear arms between the three biggest military nations, Trump may end up making the world the most dangerous it has been for decades. Another example of how heads of state are choosing tactical and short-term political and monetary gains at the cost of permanent long-term damage and danger to the people of the world.

It would be better if Trump, instead, pulled out of his multi-billion dollar deal with the rogue Saudi regime which butchered a well-known journalist, while displaying brazen arrogance that only countries which know Trump will back them anyways have been doing.